Only a few years ago, the incentive the drug captagon was known only to the police, the secret service and scientists. Meanwhile, however, the little pills have become synonymous with one of the most profitable businesses in the international drug trade: very expensive on the street, but cheap to manufacture because the main substances they are made of - amphetamine and caffeine - are not expensive at all.< /p>
Huge profits
Pills are most in demand in Arab countries - in Riyadh, Jeddah or Dubai, one tablet costs between 15 and 20 dollars. The drug is imported by the ton and the profits are huge. The production of 100 kilograms of captagon costs about 50,000 euros, selling it on the street brings in more than 8 million, German public media ARD estimates.
Meanwhile, the business also moves through Germany, investigative journalists from the German media have found. The two-year investigation saw thousands of pages of classified information reviewed and interviews with dozens of German, European, American and Arab security experts. The main conclusion: in the coming years there is a risk that the trade and production of captagon will become a serious problem for Germany and Europe.
Only the tip of the iceberg has been revealed
In front of the ARD, Federal Criminal Service investigator Lutz Preisler, who works in the field of synthetic drugs, shared his estimate that the police manage to uncover only 10 percent of the illegal drug business. That is, 90 percent remain in the dark.
And we are talking about huge quantities. In the past three years, customs and police in Germany have uncovered 1.2 tons of captagon. From there, one can calculate what the total amount and what are the dimensions of the smuggling to Germany carried out by Syrian and Lebanese cartels.
Captagon is also produced in Germany
In the meantime, however, changes have occurred. Germany is no longer just a transit country for smuggling - captagon pills are also produced in the Federal Republic. Last summer, investigators uncovered a captagon factory in Regensburg. The raw materials and the machine for the production of the tablets came from the Netherlands.
The business takes place on an international scale and is apparently based on a complex network: according to investigations, the main actors in Germany are mostly Syrian dealers who know each other well.
The criminal network is highly organized
Journalists from the German media have also managed to talk to a captagon smuggler in Germany. His sources in the Syrian and Lebanese cartels explained to him that only powder should be imported from there to Europe, and the tablets should be produced in Germany and then marketed.
Experts suggest that the finished powder for captagon pills is already being delivered to Germany not only from Syria and Lebanon, but also from laboratories in the Netherlands. It is believed that in this way the cartels are trying to emancipate themselves from regimes like that of Assad in Syria. It is assumed that the Assad regime earns up to 50 billion dollars a year from the captagon trade, ARD said. Hezbollah is also involved in the stimulant drug business, paying money for its involvement that could be saved if production were outsourced to countries like Germany.
Authors: Arne Mayer-Fünffinger (ARD) | Ludwig Kendzia (ARD) | Margherita Betoni (ARD)